Aussie, 46, Who Killed 17-Year-Old Thai Girl Could Get Reduced Sentence If He Compensates Victim’s Family

We’re all hoping for the worst possible outcome for the Aussie man who murdered a 17-year-old girl in Pattaya, Thailand, but it turns out he could end up serving as little as seven years for his crime, and avoid a life sentence/death penalty completely.

Simon Carman, 46, is currently behind bars in Pattaya Remand Prison after being charged with the murder of Tunchanok Donhomla, whose body he dumped in a suitcase by some railway tracks before he was caught by police trying to flee the country on a flight back to Australia.

While he is currently looking at the death penalty, a quirk in Thailand’s legal system means that if Carman pleads guilty and reaches a compensation agreement with Tunchanok’s parents, Thongchai Donhomla and Oradee Bussarakum, he could have 90% off his sentence wiped off.

A Thai source says: ‘The family will be approached and asked what compensation they would accept.

‘They can name an amount, so they may ask for one million baht (£22,400 or AU$43,000), and Carman can either agree or make a counter-offer.

‘The discussions can continue until an agreement is reached. Then it must be paid.

‘The family can then tell the court they have accepted the compensation as an apology and ask that he not be dealt with too harshly.’

Obviously, one million baht is a huge amount of money in Thailand and the equivalent of 8 years’ salary for someone on the provincial minimum wage. And given their teenage daughter was doing sex work in Pattaya, I’m guessing her parents in the province could do with a cash injection.

There’s precedent for this sort of thing with with Western criminals in Thailand, and one case in particular was extremely similar to the one involving Carman.

In 2022, British national Shane Kenneth Looker, 51, was extradited from Ibiza and sentenced to just 8 years in prison for the “suitcase murder” of a 27-year-old Laxami Manochat. This was because he plead guilty and agreed to pay Laxami’s family 12 million baht (£291,000!) in compensation. So he’ll be out by 2030.

Somehow I doubt Carman has that kind of money, but as his victim’s family is from the province, they may accept a far lower sum. Or maybe they’ll be happy with Carman being executed instead. It’s their choice, and I’m sure they’ll do what they feel is best for them.

Even in the best case scenario for Carman, he’s a mid-forties child killer who will spend at least seven years in Thai prison. That’s going to be a very rough ride indeed, but no less than what he deserves.

For the WhatsApp messages that Carman sent to another sex worker after murdering the teen, click HERE.